Knicker supporter



' Se t.

1927 1.. E. STEENSEN KNICKER SUPFORTER Filed Dec. 12, 1925 Patented fiept. 27, 1927.

Luna :2. seems-En, or with SALEIVI, Wisconsru.

KNroKE'R surrerkrn'lz.

Application fil ed necember a, 1252s. Serial my 74,951.

The invention has reference to knicker supporters. More especially, it relates to meansfor holding in a vertical relation the bottoms of the legs' of What islrnownas knicker garments, used more especially by boys and girls of young age; but to some extent by other and older people, theobject of the in; vention being to hold the bottoms of the legs of the garment in a substantially vertically fixed position that permits the cloth. ofthe leg to drop down below the usual-fastening means in a baggy form, without-on the one hand putting a pressure around the leg of the user that Would'interfere With: the circulation of the blood or in any Way impede the free use of the li1nb,'or on. the other hand permit the bottom to slip down. so as to largely destroy the knicker effect of the garment. V I

In common practice it has been oustomany to put a band at thebottom of the leg of the garment that is adapted to grasp the leg of the user with; sufficient binding force to prevent the band f-rom slipping down, and permitting the cloth to drop; down in the baggy form, the band being greater than the distance be: tween the location. of the band on the limb and the fastening of the garment at its upper end, the excess cloth thus being perniittedto fall below the, band in a sort ofa bag or loop. This bandhas sometimes been of an elastic nature, the stretch of which holds the band to the limb, and a more coln mon form of adjustment has been to slit the leg of the garment upwards som vhat, and extend the band beyond the slit somewhatin the form of a flap, two or more buttons be ing placed on the band on the opposite side of the slit in spaced relation, and a button hole provided in the end of the flap, whereby the bandcan be drawn and fastened tightly enough to hold the bottom of the leg in desired vertical positionyso that the excess cloth can drop down into the,desired loop form. But whateyer specific form of fast; en'er may be used, they are all very obj ection able because they all necessitate the ve'ry objeetio'nable. pressure around the limb that more or less impedes the circulation and interferes With the freest use of the limb."

My invention provides that thebottom of the leg of the garment shall-beloose enough to entirely relieve it of the least circumferential other pressure, andleave the limb the length of the cloth above tions .j connected at entirely freforaction, hile at the same time holding th'e botton' of the garment in the desired vertical position and permit the excess cloth to drop into the desired bag or loop form Without hindrance, and therefore overcomes the disadvantages ofthe former means for holding the band in' desiredposition, It providesa support that is secured to' tl1elow'er portion of the garment, th'e'aipper. portion of such support being @cured to some upper garment or'supp'orti'ngmeans, which might be attached to the upper portion of the knic-kfe'r ga'rment itself,- leaving the excess cloth perfectly free to drop into 'n'rembsrs" that enga ge the: cl 0th b etWeen them and the cloth of the, knickers is' usually ofsuch thickness that they m lin'ot'v readily grasp the cloth between them'. Therefore for convenience have made the improved device in' the form of two members that pass before and behind the band, or the flap of the band, and beneath the same, the two seei the bottom below the band when in use. The tops of these two members are secured against vertical movement With respect to each other. The

conn'ecti'oi'r the bottom of these two members, below the band may be the continuous stibsta'nce of the st rap,'or, the bottoms of stfapsim'ay be each provided with male and fi'nale fastening members Whiclr when united below the band fo'rm' a loop" the bottoinof which is'bel oiy the band and sustains the band;aaa'eoase uenuy the bottom of' the 'leg' in vertically fix'ed position," In case fastening members are used, the fl ap need not beunbut'toned, but the separate members.

be passed before and behind theban'd and rasteiiedibeibw;,but in case of a continuous strap, the fla may be unfast'ened and passed tlirougli the loop, and when through may be refastened tojhold the flap in place,'the bottom, connecting portion of the loop being, as before, below the band and supporting the band in the bottom of the loo r, a single band or strap may be secured in an upper position, and the lower end be arranged to engage the bottom of the leg, the essential point being that the supporting element may be sustained in an upper position and secured to the bottom of the leg, with the bottom of the leg, usually a band, loose enough to have no holding effect upon the leg by reason of any snugness of fit around the leg.

The drawings herewith submitted disclose one physical embodiment of the invention, in which:

Fig. 1 shows that part of a knicker leg in which a slit has been made and the bottom of the leg has been provided with a fastening band, showing the rear part of the leg with the band and the excess length of the cloth dropped below the band in bag or looped form, and the forward part showing the slit and the flap with a long folded single strap passing around the flap, the upper portion of the strap passing over the support, and the ends of the strap spread outwardly from the upper support, and provided with usual hose supporting devices. The cloth above the band in the forward portion is not shown as dropped into the bag or loop, for the purpose of preserving clearness.

Fig. 2 is a side'view of the same supporter as is shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a front View of the strap, but with only one short leg, the usual hose sup porting means being omitted.

Fig. & shows the means for attaching the hose supporting means of the short ends of the strap to the ends of the cut strap that form the short leg.

I Fig. 5 shows a modification of the knicker supporting means as compared with the means disclosed in Figs. 1 and 2, in that the same kind of supporting mechanism as is used with the hose, is applied to the lower ends of the long strap, the difference being that in supporting the hose, the material of the hose is held between the two elements of the fastener, while in Fig. 5 the same elements are shown as being connected together below the material.

. In the use of the knicker supporter in the embodiment of the invention shown, the strap for the hose supporter is made shorter than the strap for the knicker supporter, because in usual practice the hose comes up higher on the limb of the wearer than the bottom of the knicker which it is desired to hold in a fixed vertical position, and the invention is made to meet the necessities of the common use of stockings and knickers.

In the drawings the letter K generally indicates the bottom of a leg of a knicker garment, but more particularly the portion thereof behind the supporter, with the eX- cess cloth therein shown in its bagged or looped position that is usual in a garment of that kind. K indicates a portion of the leg of the knicker in front but not bagged down and with a part of the band K attached thereto, the band K being shown in both portions. This front portion of the leg shows a usual portion slit from the bottom upwards for a distance, including a cut in the band. K is an extension of the band in the form of a flap that may overlap the band on the opposite side of the slit, and is Provided with a button hole K at the end :1) thereof. K is a button on the terminus of the band to be used in connection with the button hole in the flap. In use as shown the buttoning of the flap on the button would leave the band perfectly loose on the leg. all If it were to hold the band to the leg tightly, another button would be provided, and usually is, set further along away from the slit than is the first button, so as to produce the usual clamping on the leg. But such clampno ing means is wholly unnecessary with my device.

10 indicates the supporting mechanism as a whole. 11 indicates a cross bar at the bot tom of the clamping mechanism for holding the bar in an elevated position, for supporting the knicker sustaining straps. 12 indicates a usual clamping device connected with the cross bar and the straps in an adjustable elevated position, the clamp being used i in connection with a shoulder strap, or equivalent device, not shown. But the clamp may be fastened to some other holding device, or upper part of the clothing.

13 and 14 are front and rear sections of a sustaining strap for the knickers, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the upper portions of which are sustained on the cross bar 11. As shown in Fig. 1 the sustaining strap is formed with one piece with the two endssustained lie on the cross bar, and the depending leg fo-l-ded around the bottom of the flap K 15 in dicates the folded end of the single strap, the fold being beneath the bottom of the flap, with the sides passing upwardly in front of and rearw'ardly of the flap. 16 indicates the upper fold of the two sections of the strap 13 and 14 that together pass over the bar 11 and down on the opposite side of the cross bar. 17 and 18 indicate the 1 two short ends of the strap 1314 that have been passed over the bar and downwardly, but spread apart as indicated, and at their lower ends furnished with fastening devices for engagingthe top of a stocking for supporting purposes.

19 indicates generally a hose supporting device attached to the bottom of a single strap for securing to the top of the hose. Such a fastener is shown as being secured to the bottom-of the straps 17 -18. 20 indicates the stitching used for securing together the four thicknesses of the strap, two at each side of the cross b2t1f,il0 hold the upper ends of the resulting stra )S in fixed relation to the cross bar 11. '21 isa base used in such a device, upon which the button 22 is fixedly secured. This base is provided with transverse slots above and below the button, through the uaper of which the strap is passed from its forward position, and downward behind the back ofthe base, .as at 25, back through the lower slot and around the bottom of the base, as at 26, and up along the back as at 2?, and above the base its end is turned into a forward fold 28 between the forward portion of the strap 17 and the part 27, where it is held by stitching 29 through the three thicknesses of the material.

28 indicates a metallic loop hinged to the strap above the button 22, and provided with a broad upper opening to slip over the button, and a narrower portion below to grasp a groove in the button so that when the metallic loop engages the button the button can-- not be released from the locking mechanism except by a backward movement of the but- I ton into the broader-part, which does not occur when the device is locked. 24L lndlcates the stitching to hold the upper part ofthe loop in hinged relation to the strap.

in Fig. 5 there is shown an adaptation of the same fastening button and loop to the long members 1-3l i as is used in the hose support, with the exception that the loop and button come into locking relation below the bottom of the flap In LO complete the loop that supports the bottom of the leg of the kniclr-er.

members are fastened to the two fastening elements as is above described with regard to the hose supports, except that the loop 23 is fastened to the forward member 18 instead of to the same member that sustains the button. But if arranged as indicated in '5 and just described above using the button 22 and loop 23, there would be two separate members, connected together at their bottoms to form the single long support for the kniclrer, and one of the members would have its opposite end turned to the left behind the bar 11 and the other rearward portion of the member would be turned to the right for supporting the hose from two positions, if that were desired; or, both opposed rear straps can be carried downward together to support the hose in a single position. i

It will be noted in examining the relations of differentport-ions of the straps, that one end of a strap supports its load on one side of the cross bar and the other end supports its load on the other side of the bar, so that pull on one side is met by pull onthe other side of the same strap, whereby there is a tirely saved, and the stitching and thread The lower ends of the sepacounterbalance on the strap that is a large improvementiover ithe' methodzof .making all the straps of smgle .plec-es'and sewing them ing the entire supporting strap mechanism or even of two separate counterbalancing straps, there is a material saving of .labor,

in that it'is not necessary to handle so many PK-EGGS andjuse so much care inv getting the parts of equal length; and also that ifthe long single strap, with the forward loop is used, there is a material saving in material, because the returned and looped portions of the strap for securing the button and the loop of metal to the respective straps, is enis also saved.

Having now described my invention, I claim: 7

1. In a knicker supporter, the combination of a cross member and means for holding the member in comparatively elevated position, with a long supporting member com prising a strap folded over the cross memher, with a long leg thereof adapted to engage andsupport the lower end of a knicker leg, and with a shorter leg being provided with hose fastening means to engage the top of a hose, and fastening means at the cross member for holding the strap in fixed posi-v tion with respect to the cross member.

2. In a knicker supporting. device, the combination of an upper support, with a single strap supporting element depending from the upper support, having one long leg depending substantially, vertically from the support, and adapted at its bottom to engage the bottom of a knicker leg for sup porting purposes, and a shorter leg depending from the support in an oblique direction and adapted at its lowerend to engage the top of a hose for supporting purposes.

' 3. In a knicker supporting device, the combination of an upper support comprising a cross member, with a knicker and hose supporting device comprising separated members in fore and aft relation depending" therefrom forming a long leg and adapted ill) folded in its middle portion, and also folded over the cross bar intermediate the middle fold and the ends of the strap to form one long depending leg in the form of a loop that when in use passes before, behind and below the band of a knicker garment, and two divergent shorter legs provided at their divergent ends With means for engaging the top of a hose at separate places for supportmg purposes.

5. In a knicker supporter, the combination of a cross bar provided With sustaining means, With knicker and hose sustaining means comprising a single strap folded in its middle portion and also folded over the cross bar intermediate the middle fold and the ends of the strap to form one depending leg in the form of a loop that When in use passes before, behind and beneath the band of the leg of a knicker garment, and another leg provided at its end With means for en gaging the top of a hose for supporting purposes.

LULU E. STEENSEN. 

